There and Back Again: Destination #8-Prague, Czech Republic

Day 1 of this Topdeck tour started off very early Sunday morning. I had booked the cheapest flight possible, as you do, that departed London at 6:45am. This meant waking up at 3:00am and heading to the bus stop. Luckily, a bus that goes to the airport comes pretty much right by my flat. However, this particular bus decided to be mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 55 minutes late! In true Liang family fashion, I was running late for my flight. Side note: this trip started off with a sore throat as well, which you will hear more about later. I arrived at the airport with minimal time to spare and of course the line to check in was ginormous. I also tried to fit my carry-on bag into the measurement box the airline provides and it would not fit!! Luckily, absolutely no one noticed and I got on my flight in time and was able to carry on my above-average size backpack.

I arrived in Prague at about 10:00am local time and knew I had a bit of a long day ahead of me as a.) I would have to carry around my heavy bag until 5pm when the rest of the Topdeck crew was joining us and b.) I was running on almost no sleep. My first stop was Prague Castle where I decided it was a good idea to climb to the very top. Stunning views but I was reminded as to just how out of shape I am. After I left Prague castle, I made my way towards Charles Bridge where I found a cool little market. On display was a dead Pig sliced in half….and this is where I proceeded to buy a sausage and some mulled wine. I must say, it was delicious and it was nice to sit down and enjoy the moment for a bit. Afterwards, I searched for the John Lennon wall, a wall since the 1980s that has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' songs. I knew it was close by but I forgot to give myself directions to the exact location. After a solid 20 minutes of looking, I finally found the wall only to realize it was basically right beside where I had my sausage. Afterwards, I walked the Charles Bridge and visited the Old Town square and the Jewish Quarter. At this point, I was exhausted and didn’t really know where else to go and explore. I made my way over to the hostel and luckily, they let me chill in the lounge before the rest of the crew arrived. While I was waiting, I met another Canadian who would be joining the Topdeck crew for the trip as well. Once acquainted and the Topdeck crew arrived, we got settled into our rooms and enjoyed a Czech meal at the hostel, which appeared to be a lot of chicken. Later on that evening, our Topdeck leader, Chris, took us on a walking tour of the city. I was so exhausted by the end of it, that many others and I decided to call it a night and go back to the hostel.

Today started off with my sore throat being 10x worse. After breakfast, Chris took us on a walking tour again (mainly for those that missed the previous nights) and this time went to Prague castle. We watched the changing of the guard and my buddy, Josh, and I went and shot a crossbow as well. We were both naturals ;). Afterwards, we visited Old Town square and the Jewish Quarter again before heading over to Wenceslas Square. It was shortly after where Josh decided to buy a trombone…it took me a while to wrap my head around it but props to the kid for doing whatever the hell he wanted to. Later on that evening, I went out to dinner with what was now “The Gang”. The Gang consisted of me, Josh (Aussie), Valerie (the Canadian I met), and 3 other Aussies: Nerida, Flick, and Rhiannon. That was another thing about EVERYBODY on this trip was that they all had unique names. I had a pretty hard time learning them all. In fact, by the end of the trip, I definitely didn’t remember everyone’s names. Also, I’m pretty sure like 96% of the people on this trip were from Australia…and there was like 45 people?? I digress! Dinner was great with “The Gang” (Flick created this name…um) and the night ended with the some bar hopping and my favourite was a 5 story nightclub that played different music on each level. Everyone’s favourite was the Oldies level.

To be continued….